60% e-Waste Recycling Likely By 2023:
The Environment Ministry released the draft notification for electronic waste management for public feedback.
- India has a formal set of rules for electronic waste management, first announced these rules in 2016 and amended them in 2018.
- The latest rules are expected to come into effect by August.
- According to it, Consumer goods companies and makers of electronics goods have to ensure at least 60% of their electronic waste is collected and recycled by 2023 with targets to increase them to 70% and 80% in 2024 and 2025, respectively.
- The rules bring into effect a system of trading in certificates, akin to carbon credits, that will allow companies to temporarily bridge shortfalls.
- Draft notification says companies will have to pay ‘environmental compensation’ for missed targets.
- Along with specifying targets, the rules lay out a system of companies securing extended producer responsibility (EPR) certificates.
- The chief entity that will coordinate the trade of EPR certificates and monitor if companies are meeting their targets is the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB).
